In 1919, it was widely reported that only twelve persons in all the world understood Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Today the cosmic conclusions make sense to a somewhat larger audience, but the world at large still has no better understanding of Einstein or his towering contributions to science. Last week Einstein came down from outer space with a new theory which was easy enough to understand but difficult for many U.S. citizens to accept.
The Revolutionary Way. William Frauenglass, a Manhattan high school teacher, was called before the Senate Internal Security subcommittee last April to explain his Communist connections, and refused to answer on the ground that he might incriminate himself. Facing suspension from his job, Frauenglass wrote Physicist Einstein in Princeton, asking if he had been right in refusing to testify. Einstein replied, in a "letter which need not be considered confidential," that Frauenglass was right indeed.
"The problem with which the intellectuals of this country are confronted is very serious," wrote Einstein. "The reactionary politicians have managed to instill suspicion of all intellectual efforts into the public by dangling before their eyes a danger from without . . . They are now proceeding to suppress the freedom of teaching and to deprive of their positions all those who do not prove submissive . . .
"What ought the minority of intellectuals to do against this evil? Frankly, I can see only the revolutionary way of noncooperation in the sense of Gandhi's. Every intellectual who is called before one of the committees ought to refuse to testify, i.e., he must be prepared for jail and economic ruin, in short, for the sacrifice of his personal welfare in the interest of the cultural welfare of his country ... If enough people are ready to take this grave step they will be successful. If not, then the intellectuals of this country deserve nothing better than the slavery which is intended for them."
The Open Way. Einstein's Theory for Intellectuals touched off an immediate controversy. "An enemy of America!" snorted Senator Joe McCarthy. Indiana's Senator Jenner, who is conducting the senatorial investigations into the education field, mildly remarked that 85 educators have already refused to deny membership in "the Communist organization."
The New York Times (whose late great Managing Editor Carr Van Anda first brought Einstein to the attention of the general public) editorialized: "To employ the unnatural and illegal forces of civil disobedience, as Professor Einstein advises, is in this case to attack one evil with another. McCarthyism should be fought cleanly and openly, and it will certainly be defeated in the long run."* The tabloid New York Daily News considered the source: "The old sweetheart is a giant in his field of theoretical physics. But his political wisdom is that of a babe-in-arms. His latest antic in the political field is just another piece of Einstein tomfoolery to file & forget."